Legler Eric, Cuevas Rivera Darío, Schwöbel Sarah, Wagner Ben J, Kiebel Stefan
Chair of Cognitive Computational Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, TUD Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany.
Centre for Tactile Internet with Human-in-the-Loop (CeTI), TUD Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany.
Commun Psychol. 2025 Jun 13;3(1):92. doi: 10.1038/s44271-025-00271-0.
Humans tend to repeat action sequences that have led to reward. Recent computational models, based on a long-standing psychological theory, suggest that action selection can also be biased by how often an action or sequence of actions was repeated before, independent of rewards. However, empirical support for such a repetition bias effect in value-based decision-making remains limited. In this study, we provide evidence of a repetition bias for action sequences using a sequential decision-making task (N = 70). Through computational modeling of choices, we demonstrate both the learning and influence of a repetition bias on human value-based decisions. Using model comparison, we find that decisions are best explained by the combined influence of goal-directed reward seeking and a tendency to repeat action sequences. Additionally, we observe significant individual differences in the strength of this repetition bias. These findings lay the groundwork for further research on the interaction between goal-directed reward seeking and the repetition of action sequences in human decision making.
人类倾向于重复那些带来过奖励的动作序列。基于一个长期存在的心理学理论的近期计算模型表明，动作选择也可能受到一个动作或动作序列之前被重复的频率的影响，而与奖励无关。然而，对于基于价值的决策中这种重复偏差效应的实证支持仍然有限。在本研究中，我们使用一个序列决策任务（N = 70）提供了动作序列存在重复偏差的证据。通过对选择进行计算建模，我们证明了重复偏差在人类基于价值的决策中的学习和影响。使用模型比较，我们发现决策最好由目标导向的奖励寻求和重复动作序列的倾向的综合影响来解释。此外，我们观察到这种重复偏差的强度存在显著的个体差异。这些发现为进一步研究人类决策中目标导向的奖励寻求与动作序列重复之间的相互作用奠定了基础。
